The ST-ART of Something New! by Stuart Johns

Doodling on retro computers has always fascinated me and I have quite happily been churning out endless (nameless) piccys on my various systems; mainly AMX Art on my Acorn Electron and, more lately in Degas Elite on my Atari ST.

It occurred to me, though, that Art appreciation on the ST was a bit underwhelmed outside of demoscene circles, so the Facebook group STatariART was born. I created the group initially as a place for ST owners to post pictures and chat about box art, in-game art, ST music, anything that came under the umbrella of Art Appreciation within the ST universe, but an idea soon began to blossom….

The perception that people have of art and what is considered to be ‘good’ has always been a bit of a grey area, but in the wider world it is possible to access art at all levels and standards and appreciate and consider that for what it is. Art should stimulate the mind and the emotions, encourage thought or debate or simply be loved (or hated). This in mind, I contemplated that within the ST scene, the only gfx we really see up for consideration in the Public Domain are by established names and don’t go far beyond the realms of jaw-dropping pixel-perfection. That is fine and absolutely necessary, requires hours of work and is loved and enjoyed. But doesn’t it get a bit boring? One more pixel-perfection to be swallowed into the mass….

I decided that I wanted a place in the Scene for Average Joe to have a go. To share what he/she creates and have the chance for that to be considered, thought about, discussed. After all, who are we to decide within the world of art what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’?

Anything created with passion deserves attention.So the Collaboration project was born from within the STatariART group. People can offer pieces of art (pixel-perfect or freehand scribble) and they will be included in the next production (these take the form of a slideshow). To my relief, people came forward with art (artiSTs) and with musical offerings too. Some code was created and before we knew it, we had our first Collaborative production. A demoscene release!

Some people loved it, some people hated it because it didn’t conform. Whatever the view of it, you can’t argue that it stimulated some debate! One important point: the demo was intended to be primarily released on floppy disk; these are free (you just need to cover postage) and you can get a copy by contacting me (Forgotten Grove).Collaboration TWO is underway and all and any are welcome to submit artwork for it; the only stipulation is that it must be created on an ST or emulator, or in a program like the excellent ST-Paint that creates pictures in ST format. Degas Elite or NeoChrome formats are best, but we can work around it if that’s a problem for you.